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Four Ways to Make Social Technologies Relevant to Your Business
By Scott Klososky
into the strategy toolbox for organi- zations. If you want to be the Zen master of social tools, then first understand the need to implement elements of social that will both drive revenues, and cut back office costs. Too many people think of social
S
tools as only being for sales and marketing when in reality, there are valuable uses in the back office. With that thought firmly implanted, there are a few social tech concepts that are mandatory for every organ- ization today:
Building Rivers of Information. One of the least talked-about
dynamics of social technologies is the massive amount of real time infor- mation flying around the Web, on any subject. If you are a CPA, doctor, lawyer, baseball player, or basket weaver for example, there are megabytes of data that could be crit- ical to your performance uploaded each day. The reality is that you will harness maybe three percent of what
ocial media/networking and the collection of tools they have spawned have moved solidly
could be valuable to you. Social tools give us the ability to
aggregate and filter this explosion of information so that it can be fun- neled into your brain. Every organi- zation can institutionalize this process by teaching employees which information sources are valuable, and what tools can be used to aggre- gate and filter them to a manageable state. It is a knowledge economy after all, so the smarter teams win. Ergo, use social tools to harness rele- vant and timely industry informa- tion, and you will be smarter. And don’t use the excuse that
you do not have time to digest this information. That is like saying you don’t have time to be relevant.
Organizational Voice Every organization can benefit
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from building a powerful Web-deliv- ered organizational voice. There are many channels through which this voice can be delivered, Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, podcasts, text messages. The organizational voice gives entities a way to create a con- versation with constituents so that
they can earn the right to grab their mindshare. The only way to earn that right is by providing a valuable flow of content through the voice. There are three big mistakes that companies are making when using tools like blogging, Twitter and Facebook to connect with cus- tomers/prospects/clients:
1. Lack of a specific and human sounding tone. Every communica- tion through whatever channel you
formal ORM program. The steps are simple: build a listening process, doc- ument and engagement policy, and then implement a measuring system.
Crowdsourcing. Who wouldn’t jump at the
chance to get work done cheaper, faster and with more innovation! That is the promise of crowdsourc- ing. There are somewhere north of 75 sites on the Web that now assist peo- ple with the crowdsourcing process
MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are now
rapidly being adopted in the business world. Social tech has already started to change organizational behavior and is poised to dramatically alter the way the business world operates in 2011 and beyond.
use must sound human, and have a tone that is interesting, intriguing, or unusual. You don’t want to read boring things so why would you think your constituents will? 2. Mistakes with the frequency of delivery. If you deliver content too often, you annoy people and they begin to tune you out. Even if your content is great, it becomes over- whelming and people just stop pay- ing attention. If you deliver content too infrequently, they lower the per- ceived value in their minds. What is the perfect frequency? It depends totally on the audience, and the type of content, there are no hard-and- fast rules. 3. The mix of content is all wrong. As you send content through the organizational voice, you must be mindful of delivering nuggets that are valuable. For example, if you fill 80 percent of your content with sales-related information, it appears to be spam. If you do noth- ing but deliver your opinions, people might get tired of the editorial. A valuable stream of content includes a mix of stories, facts and figures, and links to valuable resources, opinions, and product or company information. Get the recipe wrong and it is akin to dumping too much cayenne pepper in the soup.
Online Reputation Management (ORM)
Regardless the size, or type of
business you are involved in, an online reputation is forming, whether you like it or not. Internet users (which now number nearly two billion) are increasingly sharing their opinions about service providers and retailers through con- versations and comments online. Every time they mention your com- pany, or your products’ names, these comments become searchable. That means that when any prospective customer searches to find informa- tion on you, they will find these com- ments — good and bad. For this rea- son, organizations today must have a
(CrowdSPRING, 99designs, logo tournament, Innocentive, mturk, are just a few). Learning to tap into the Internet herd to get work done that traditionally was sourced in house, or by local vendors thus becomes a strategic advantage. The quick way to learn how to use this tool is simply to dive in and start experimenting. The risk is low and the rewards can be tremendous. The crowdsource market is growing quickly; now is the time to give it a try. For extra credit, go back and
examine these social tech concepts and note that two can directly help the front end revenue generation, and two will help with the back office operation, thus fulfilling the promise that we made at the beginning of this article. There are too many leaders who still believe that social technolo- gies equal Facebook and Twitter. The reality is that every company can use the four concepts listed above to get a fast return on the investment of their time. You might see them as a luxu- ry right now, but they will soon be mandatory if you want to stay in business. The author, Scott Klososky, is a
former CEO and author of the new books, Enterprise Social Technology and The Velocity Manifesto — avail- able through all major booksellers and for Kindle and iPad. He special- izes in having the vision and ability to identify trends in emerging technolo- gies, which allows him to be a thought leader who applies his skills to help organizations thrive, leaders prosper, and entire industries move forward. His unique perspectives on technolo- gy, business culture, and the future allow him to travel the globe as a speaker and consultant, working with senior executives in organizations ranging from Fortune 500 corpora- tions to universities and nonprofits. Contact: Scott Klososky, Web:
www.EnterpriseSocialTechnology.com or
www.TheVelocityManifesto.com or see his blog:
www.TechnologyStory.com Twitter: @sklososky r
July, 2011
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