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The Little Blue Book of Social Transformation
The document outlines the transformative role of social media in modern business, emphasizing the importance of understanding and empowering customers and employees. It highlights the necessity of developing a social strategy that aligns with corporate goals, fosters collaboration, and harnesses the power of social networks to build deeper relationships. Additionally, the text advocates for creating an internal social taskforce to drive change and emphasizes a culture that prioritizes engagement and innovation.
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The Little Blue Book of Social Transformation
- 2. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE TABLE OF CONTENTS Lay the Groundwork for Social Success Know Your Customers Like Never Before Connect and Collaborate With Colleagues Instantly Build Deeper Relation- ships by Engaging Customers in New Ways Listen and Learn From Public Social Networks Define the Vision Set Clear Social Goals Create Purpose Establish a Social Taskforce Make Your Customer King Get One View of Your Customers Empower Your Employees With Social Tools Tear Down Departmental Silos Instantly Turn Weak Ties Into Strong Connections Build a Results-Driven Workplace Make Social Part of Every Business Process Treat Your Prospects Like Trusted Partners Create Fans for Life Crowd-Source Innovation From Your Community Market at the Speed of Social Create a Social Listening Center Establish Rules of Engagement Attract Fans With New Social Experiences Amplify Your Evangelists Bring Your Products Into the Conversation 1 4 2 3 5 6 7 10 8 9 11 12 15 13 14 16 19 17 18 20 20 Principles FOR leading CHANGE
- 3. Introduction Let’s face it:Part of you—or maybe all of you— wonders how important and lasting this social phenomenon will ultimately end up being. Is it worth dedicating some of your organization’s valuable time and resources to this? The answer is yes. Now is the time to get serious about social. This book will show you how to get there through a series of short—but impactful—principles. Read it, start thinking, and then do something social: Share it with someone in your company who can help make it happen.
- 4. Lay the Groundwork forSocial Success Convey clear benefits to your business, customers, and employees CHAPTER ONE
- 5. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE By now it should be clear that social is not a fad. Every- thing from how we process and consume information to how we engage with customers, prospects, partners, employees—and everyone—has changed forever. Today, one in every five minutes online is spent on Facebook, 400 million tweets go out every day, and You- Tube has morphed from a hub for crazy cat and baby videos into a bona fide entertainment destination and the third most-popular website in the world (after Google and Facebook), according to Alexa. Almost overnight, brands have moved from 1-to-1 cus- tomer conversations to 1-to-millions. Your communities have a voice, and thanks to social networks, it’s a louder and more powerful one than any other time in history. These networks are so influential because they’re pow- ered by people and designed for their benefit. People like your customers and prospects are at the center of this customer-led revolution —and that’s what makes social a game changer for business. No one knows your unique business better than you. That’s why you can’t exactly copy someone else’s social blueprint and apply it to your own company. Your spe- cific social strategy must account for the technologies, trends, and objectives that are a match for your larger business goals. Only then will you be ready to operationalize your organization for new social opportunities. “The next generation is growing up in a social world. Whether you’re talking to customers or employees, you have to do it on a social plat- form because that’s the language they speak.” Angela Ahrendts CEO, Burberry
- 6. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE Expectations of engagement, listening, and learning are inherent. It’s not just about getting closer to customers and employ- ees; it’s about empowering them, learning from them, and leading them. Your vision should inspire your internal audience, certainly. But it should also be inspirational to people outside your organization. Challenge yourself to write something that makes your communities think, “That’s a company I want to do business with.” Define the Vision Either business gets social or it gets left behind Everything begins with conveying what social media means to your business, your customers, and your employees— and how everyone will benefit. Before we take any steps forward, let’s step back and think about the possibilities. How can social media improve customer and employee relationships? What do these re- lationships look like over the course of one, two, or even three years? These types of forward-thinking questions set the founda- tion for the vision. In defining your vision, remember that social channels are designed for two-way conversations; they’re not just another marketing channel for broadcasting your message. 1 (Source: Gartner, Business Gets Social)3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2021
- 7. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE At every step, be sure that your mission (and your vision) aligns with business priorities and objectives. Set milestones and checkpoints to ensure that your social transformation is on course. Docu- ment expectations and set clear goals that support your overall corporate goals. Set Clear Social Goals Once you’ve articulated your vision, it’s time to define your mission and give more details on how your organization will invest in social technologies, modify relevant processes as necessary, and em- power champions to lead the social trans- formation at every level. It’s no simple task, of course. The explo- sion of social media sites and technologies means the possibilities are virtually end- less. Consider starting small with a few key social channels, then making modifications and additions as you spread your social wings. Don’t lose sight of the fact that tech- nology is not the end game and social media—in and of itself—is not a strategy. 2 (Source: Altimeter Group) 70% of enterprises achieve business objectives with social media yet only 43% have a formal social roadmap to address their goals 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2021
- 8. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE Create Purpose Social media is a very personal and emo- tional landscape. As such, your social strategy requires a purpose to motivate your team and customers to join you in this important journey. Think about it this way: If your vision is ‘what’ you’re striving for and your mission is ‘how’ you’re getting there, your purpose is ‘why’ you’re doing it at all. With a clear vision, established goals, and the best intentions of improving relation- ships and experiences through social media, the next step is to give your col- leagues a reason to believe. Why should they enlist in this mission? Why should they believe in your vision for transformation? And perhaps most importantly, how every- one will win in the process. You can’t do this alone. Now that you have a vision, mission, and purpose documented, it’s time to pull together a trusted group of change agents. These stakeholders will each represent key func- tions and lines of business to ensure that social transformation is thoughtful and op- erationalized. Together, change and mar- ket leadership is imminent. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 202 31
- 9. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE Establish a Social Taskforce Now it’s time to start pulling together the people who will make your social trans- formation happen. Your social taskforce should include people from across your organization that are savvy about social media and knowledgeable about your business and its goals. It should include stakeholders from all relevant lines of busi- ness and functions, including HR, legal, marketing, sales, and customer service. Think of your taskforce as a centralized resource for defining social media policy and establishing governance, best prac- tices, and policies. Most importantly, they’ll ensure your social media strategy ties back to key business objectives. 4 (Source: Altimeter Group)5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 202 431 73% of companies with shared social media team report having clear leadership, compared to 31% of those without
- 10. Know Your Customers LikeNever Before Gain social insights to understand what really matters CHAPTER TWO
- 11. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE If a conversation takes place online and you’re not there to hear it, did it happen? The answer is YES. In a social world, what you don’t know can—and probably will— hurt you. At the same time, knowing what people are saying and how they’re interacting in social networks can really help you. Social media isn’t a nuisance—it’s one of the greatest gifts your business could ask for. The conversations that take place in social networks will give you new- found awareness of what people are saying about your brand and your competitors. Social media makes that powerful “word of mouth” that is so valuable–and yet so elusive–not only discoverable but measurable. You can learn more than ever about your customers based on what they ‘like’ on Facebook, the thoughts they share on Twitter, and who they’re connected to on LinkedIn. These insights can be translated into more meaningful conver- sations between your customers and employees, more- effective marketing strategies, and ultimately, better products and services. “Creating a social profile of our customers is the basis of everything. Knowing our customers helps us offer interesting services that will benefit them.” Bruno Cercley CEO, Rossignol
- 12. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE Make Your Customer King Today’s customer has more power than ever. It’s time to recognize and embrace the fact that customers are now in the driv- er’s seat, thanks to social technology. Everyone knows that referrals from friends are far more valuable than messages from a company. The problem for business was always that generating referrals was an inexact science. Then along came social media. The viral velocity of social networks have made referrals a way of life for con- sumers—do everything you can to encour- age your customers to vote with their influ- ence. While social media can spread powerful endorsements at unprecedented speeds, mistakes can also be broadcast at the speed of social. Customers now air their complaints to thousands or even millions of people online in an instant; these negative posts last forever and can pop up 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 5 (Source: ClickFox, Social Media: An Emerging Customer Service Channel) 97% of customers identify as “somewhat influenced” to “very influenced” by other customers’ comments about companies Several longstanding companies have been brought to their knees due to a single unhappy—and socially influential—cus- tomer. Protect your business by placing your customers at the heart of everything you do.Your customers will thank you with their repeat business and referrals. 3 4 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 202 51
- 13. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE Make Your Customer King Do everything you can to encourage your customers to vote with their influence. Get One View of Your Customer You probably already have basic contact info for your customers and prospects in a database. And many of you actively man- age how these relationships track to the sales funnel. But yesterday’s sales process- es fail to take into account the new social touch points that are so important to build connections with today’s customers. To get a socially relevant customer view, you must consolidate, track, and manage social customer data in one place. Con- nect the social Web to your customer data- base to establish a holistic profile of your customers. You’ll get a complete view into your cus- tomers so you can engage with them in more meaningful ways, correct unforeseen mistakes, enhance their perception of your brand, and gather intelligence to improve your products and services. 6 (Source: IDC, ICT Market Outlook: What’s Next?) Percentage of enterprises using social information to support business- critical decisions: 28% in 2010 85% in 2020 3 4 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 202 61
- 14. Connect and Collaborate WithColleagues Instantly Flatten your organization, uncover expertise, and improve productivity CHAPTER THREE
- 15. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE Imagine a work environment where ideas and exper- tise transcend hierarchy and flow across geographies. Where your employees at every level are passionate and engaged and feel like their voices are heard. Where it’s easy for them to get answers, find experts, and share information with each other. With enterprise social networks it’s happening now. These internal networks break down barriers, elevate good ideas, keep processes moving, and help everyone—from sales to service to the back office—work more collaboratively and productively. Businesses that use social technologies internally cultivate a deeper level of employee engagement, distinguish themselves as leaders, and create work experiences that attract and retain the best talent. “A connected team moves faster and thinks bigger.” Tim O’Shaughnessy CEO, LivingSocial
- 16. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE Empower Your Employees With Social Tools Social networks empower the individual like no other technology. On public social networks, people are building personal brands and creating massive amounts of influence. Now the same thing is happen- ing among employees inside of companies via enterprise social networks. Many companies make engaging custom- ers a top priority, but fail to engage their own employees and turn them into brand representatives. In this social economy, blocking employees from social networks is doing them—and your customers—a huge disservice. Embrace the fact that your employees have aspirations and ambition. They want to be- lieve in your vision. Help them. Guide them. Empower them. Make social engagement—internal, external, or both—a criteria to become a top per- former. When employees engage with influencers and the general community online, your story and your vision can con- nect people both within and outside the organization. 51% of employees using social soft- ware say they are more productive during the workday 7 (Source: Forrester, The Enterprise 2.0 User Profile 10.31.11)3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2021
- 17. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE product development teams can collabo- rate in an employee social network and solve customer issues quickly or identify up-sell opportunities. Or, your marketing team can use social tools to quickly respond to materials requests from the sales team. Tear Down Departmental Silos Instantly In many organizations, social media oper- ates solely within the silo of the marketing department. But becoming social means breaking down barriers. Customers don’t care about your departmental silos. They see a single company, and they expect ev- ery department to act like they’re connect- ed. It’s critical that you provide routes and resolution for all facets of your business. Everyone in your organization is responsi- ble for collaboration, because true collab- oration requires all employees to share, communicate, and be open. For example, employees in your sales, service, and 66% of employees say social networking increases sharing 8 (Source: Altimeter Group)3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 202 81
- 18. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE Because you all work at the same com- pany, all your employees are tied loosely together by default. But an enterprise social network can make those weak ties be- come stronger connections where mutual interests and context around customer needs or business problems become im- mediately apparent. The power of an enterprise social network is that an employee looking to get an an- swer from one colleague will often get a faster reply from another colleague—who they may not even know—who saw the so- cial interaction in passing. A simple ques- tion about whether someone knows the CIO of a company you’re selling to might instead lead to the discovery that the com- pany’s CEO is the brother of an employee. Turn Weak Ties Into Strong Connections Or imagine a salesperson who posts ask- ing how to pitch a certain product to ad- dress a customer’s business problem. The next thing she knows, her colleagues are jumping in with advice and ideas, and the sales rep suddenly gets swept into an op- portunity to sell multiple new products. These serendipitous moments don’t hap- pen when you’re sitting at your desk or sending emails only to certain people you know well. They happen when your em- ployees are completely connected and can uncover each other’s expertise and insights in a matter of minutes. Suddenly, the ex- pertise of your entire company is lined up to service your customers at a mo- ment’s notice. The Web and social technologies enable access to nearly unlimited ideas and practices 9 (Source: Predicts 2011: Executive Focus on Revenue Growth Puts Added Pressure on CIOs)3 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 202 91
- 19. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE Build a Results-Driven Workplace At the heart of every organization is its culture. Social media can help you foster an effective, transparent, employee- centric culture. This means working with your HR department to ensure every em- ployee feels that they’re contributing to the company’s success, and everyone feels like part of something bigger than just their individual role. Motivate and improve employee perfor- mance by establishing social goals, pro- viding continuous feedback, and giving meaningful recognition. Replace traditional performance reviews with an easier, more collaborative, and social review process that includes an ongoing dialogue among teams and between coaches and em- ployees. This way, your employees always know where they stand and can build their work reputation. And the whole organiza- tion has a richer body of information that’s collected as things happen—rather than having to rely on memory when review time comes around. 10 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 202 101
- 20. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE Make Social Part of Every Business Process Hiring one social media expert into your marketing organization is not enough for social transformation. Social needs to be an integrated strategy for every depart- ment and every business process and function across your organization. When social becomes part of your corporate DNA, everyone from marketing and HR to finance and customer service will be more effective at communicating, collaborating, problem solving, and serving customers and stakeholders. Social technologies can help everyone do a better job. Marketers can launch cam- paigns that colleagues from across the company and the globe can help shape. Customer service agents can collaborate to resolve customer issues faster. HR can leverage employees and their respective peer networks to recruit top talent. Product development can crowd-source new prod- uct ideas or prioritize innovation currently in the pipeline. By building social into every business process, you’ll build a more effec- tive and productive workforce and create a more relevant business. 11 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 202 111 (Source: Forrester, The Enterprise 2.0 User Profile 2011 10.31.11) 39% of workers say they use social tools because they solve their business problems
- 21. Build Deeper Relationshipsby Engaging Customers in New Ways Collaborate in real time with customers, prospects, and partners CHAPTER FOUR
- 22. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE Customer expectations have changed. Consumers no longer need to come to you to learn about your products and services. They’re joining conversations online and getting a more unbiased perspective on social channels. They prefer engaging with you alongside their colleagues and other customers like them. This new level of open- ness and transparency has fundamentally changed the conversation between companies and customers. The most successful businesses today are embracing this shift to distinguish themselves as thought leaders in their industries, earning the trust of their custom- ers ahead of their competition. They’re joining existing communities—or creating their own—where custom- ers, partners, and even products can all join the same conversations and share ideas. These businesses care about the needs of their customers and are responding faster and with more transparency thanks to social tech- nology. Faster responses, deeper engagement and stronger trust: That’s what’s fueling the growth of today’s leading companies. As a leader, you set the charter for the customer experi- ence. You have the ability to build the bridges that con- nect your brand and products to your social customers and deliver remarkable experiences that meet and ex- ceed their expectations. “There’s a huge opportunity with social platforms to reinvent the relationships between clients and their firms.” Brad Peterson CIO, Schwab
- 23. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE Treat Your Prospects Like Trusted Partners Companies today can create customer so- cial networks to collaborate with custom- ers and partners throughout the sales cycle. These communities can be created instantly and act essentially as private deal rooms that create a new level of transpar- ency and trust—where information flows quickly and customers feel like trusted partners. It’s all about changing the attitude and getting to “yes” more quickly. Social collaboration tools inside your com- pany make it easier for sales reps to close deals because they’re now connected to everyone and everything they need. The engineer. The new marketing deck. The competitive expert. The latest discount ma- trix. The executive with platinum connec- tions. This level of connectivity is the new sales reality. But how does this benefit the relationship with the customer or prospect? After all, that’s what selling is all about. 12 (Source: Cone Inc.) 56% of buyers feel connected to brands that engage socially 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 202 121
- 24. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE Make Your Customer King Create Fans for Life Millions of conversations are happening online right now, among millions of people. Some of them are about your company and your products. As the conversations about your brand increase, how do you scale? Hiring more people to monitor Twitter is not the answer. You’ll be over- whelmed quickly unless you automate your listening and route the right conversations to the right agents within your organization for follow-up. To win fans in the social era, you’ll need to make sure your agents are everywhere your customers are. When a technical question comes in about a product, make sure it gets to your product or support team. Social is built for speed, so if you’re not bringing the right people into the con- versation quickly, your customers will start talking to someone else. 62% of consumers handle service issues with social media 13 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 18 19 2021 (Source: ClickFox, Social Media: An Emerging Customer Service Channel)13
- 25. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE Make Your Customer King Crowd-Source Innovation From Your Community Much to the chagrin of PR departments everywhere, customers feel free to use their social voices when they need help, when they have a problem, or when they’ve had a negative experience. Why not channel those voices to help your busi- ness create better products and services? Here’s how to get there: Invest in your communities by turning customers and partners into stakeholders. Remember, a community is not just some- thing where people belong; a community is defined by the things that make belonging matter. Develop programs to focus com- munity activity on collaborative missions to accomplish great things. Working together to do something great is the perfect way to foster affinity and loyalty. 14 Percentage of enterprises getting new product ideas via social media: 30% in 2010 75% in 2020 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 15 16 17 18 19 202 141 (Source: IDC, ICT Market Outlook: What’s Next?)
- 26. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE Make Your Customer King Market at the Speed of Social In a social world, context and immediacy are prerequisites for the most success- ful types of online customer interactions. Captivating your customer’s attention at the right time and in the right place can trigger the types of interactions and activity that boost your brand and generate sales. To make it happen, you need to instantly decipher social activity and then present contextually relevant Web content that pulls in social data. Your customers are engaging with your company on Twitter and Facebook, and you need to be there too, generating customized Web experi- ences on the fly. 15 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 17 18 19 202 151
- 27. Listen and LearnFrom Public Social Networks Get insights to shape unique experiences for your communities CHAPTER FIVE
- 28. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE A funny thing happened as people started using social networks like Facebook and Twitter. They not only be- came incredibly connected, they also built their own are- nas where they take center stage and their friends and followers fill the seats. Everyone now has a voice. They have a stage and a connected audience to share what they like and also what they don’t like. Remember, people on social net- works are at the center of their own social universe, and they don’t have to connect to your business. Establishing and losing connections are as easy as a ‘click.’ It’s time to get their attention and earn their support. But you won’t capture their mindshare if you treat social media like traditional broadcast channels that only offer one-way communication. It all starts by listening to what people are saying about your brand and understanding where your customers, partners, competitors, and pros- pects are spending their time. Let your desire to put people at the center of your busi- ness be the driving force behind your listening. Stay on top of social conversations to help customers at the point of need, thank advocates, win over detractors, and capi- talize on new growth opportunities for your business. (Source: comScore, It’s a Social World) Social networks reach 82% of the online population worldwide “Being social is not just about winning fans and influencing followers. It’s about inspiring customers to engage with us.” John Costello CMO, Duncan
- 29. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE Create a Social Listening Center Social media opens windows into the worlds of your customers. Set up a “com- mand center” or central area for view- ing, monitoring, and reporting on all your company’s social mentions in real time across the social media sites where people are talking about you. This is the central nervous system of the socially connected enterprise. Picture a room with multiple screens displaying social feeds. Staffers are watching, learning, replying, and dis- tributing information and questions to the right people throughout your organization. Your monitoring staff knows what’s hap- pening as it happens and brings in other parts of the organization when and where they’re needed. A listening center will help you glean insights into what customers, influenc- ers, press, and the community are say- ing about your brand. You can also track what’s being said about your competition. Listening is the first step. From there you can learn, adapt, and engage your cus- tomers to effect change. 16 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 18 19 202 161
- 30. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE Establish Rules of Engagement Each social network community boasts its own unique culture. A “one size fits all” approach can fall flat or cause an uninten- tional uprising. Front line employees who engage with customers on social channels need road signs and guardrails to operate. They also need training and direction on how to best represent the brand through their actions and words in social media. Establishing rules of engagement in a broader social media policy creates conti- nuity and consistency in your messaging across social channels. Formally training your internal staff on those rules ensures fewer social missteps. A few simple guidelines include: thanking people who mention your brand, engag- ing quickly, and being honest. Be sure to cover what to do when things are going wrong. When there’s a problem, acknowl- edge it quickly. Follow up is key. Give a little detail about what you’re doing to fix it and when you expect resolution. While only one person may be waiting for your direct reply, thou- sands more could be watching. The trans- parency and openness of social network- ing sites makes doing the right thing more important than ever. What’s clear is that social customers not only expect and appreciate engagement, but they also feel better as a result. In fact, after having a dialogue with you that the customer feels good about, this same for- merly disgruntled person will return to the same channels where they vented frustra- tion to sing your praises. So, don’t delay in responding to your customers. Let them know their voices matter—and that you’re listening. Now. 17 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 18 19 2021 (Source: Altimeter Group, Pivot Study) 92% of companies allow professional use of social media 17
- 31. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE Attract Fans With New Social Experiences The social Web is fundamentally changing the interactions between companies and their communities. One of the biggest op- portunities your business faces today is the ability to design remarkable experiences through the marriage of social apps and social data. Now you can personalize your story for the people you’re trying to reach, inspired by their behavior in social networks—what they post, what they do, what they “like.” Imagine delivering tailored products, mo- bile apps, and Web experiences to your customers. They’ll appreciate seeing only relevant information and offers, and you’ll experience greater customer satisfaction and more sales. 18 53% of active adult social networkers follow a brand (Source: Nielsen)3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 19 202 181
- 32. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE Amplify Your Evangelists As social customers build their personal networks over time, some of them evolve from just another member of the crowd into a person of influence with a large and attentive audience. Now’s the time to mobilize your influen- tial customers by using listening tools to identify champions and measure their social reach. Let them know how impor- tant they are to your business. Find out what about your company and products excites them, and design official advocacy programs that harness their influence and passion. Before you know it, you’ll have an army of people who aren’t even on your payroll singing your praises, answering questions, guiding purchasing decisions, and defending you against online critics. 19 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 202 191 90% of online consumers trust known users, 70% trust unknown users, 8% trust celebrities (Source: Erik Qualman, Socialnomics)
- 33. CHAPTER ONE CHAPTERTHREECHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE Bring Your Products Into the Conversation Your social community can extend beyond your customers, prospects, and employ- ees—now your products can be social, too. Truly social businesses are bringing products into social conversations, allow- ing your customers to not only ‘like’ a prod- uct, but to become friends with it. Each day hundreds of millions of people use social networks to stay on top of the latest news from families, friends, and businesses. Why shouldn’t your products share status updates with your custom- ers—just like people do? They can tell your customers when everything’s fine, or tweet when something needs their attention. Imagine your car tweeting, “It’s almost time for an oil change.” Imagine next seeing an ad on Facebook that your favorite service station has an oil change appointment open at 10:00 on Saturday morning. 20 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2021 (Source: IDC) Intelligent communicating devices on the network will outnumber “traditional" computing devices by almost 2 to 1
- 34. Start Your SocialTransformation Now As a leader in your organization, it’s time to start socializing the idea and assigning people to make it happen. Only you can help chart a course for the future. Social has created a tremendous opportunity for your company to outpace your competition. If your organization looks to you for direction and inspiration, then it’s up to you to lead the charge in developing a more human, adapt- able, and scalable social business. It doesn’t mean starting over. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel to leverage social tech- nologies. This is a time to evaluate and mod- ernize existing practices and to refocus on the expectations of your social customers. The journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. Use this book as your guide to take the first one. Before you know it, your social transformation will begin, and soon you’ll be well on the road to deeper relation- ships with customers and employees—and greater relevance with social and traditional customers alike.
- 35. Written in collaborationwith Brian Solis of the Altimeter Group www.salesforce.com/solutions