The Executive's Guide to Enterprise Social Media Strategy

Social media has already transformed society. Now it is poised to revolutionize communications and collaborative business processes. This book provides you with an actionable framework for developing and executing successful enterprise social networking strategies. Using straightforward language, accompanied by exhibits and fleshed out with real-world stories and revealing anecdotes, you will learn how to develop your own internal corporate social media strategy. Through the use of in-depth interviews with leading companies using these strategies, you will also discover best practices that will propel your business to new heights.

Foreword xiii

Preface xv

Acknowledgments xvii

Introduction 1

Country Village or Gleaming City? 2

Beyond Disruptive 4

Step Aside, Fred Taylor . . . 6

Social Media or What? 6

Why Now? 7

So, What’s the Best Way to Skin a Mastodon? 8

Questions You Should Be Prepared to Answer 10

Critical Areas for Success 12

Part I The Grand Scheme of Things 15

Chapter 1 Speed, Scope, Complexity, Power, and Potential 17

They Laughed at the Wright Brothers 19

A World of New Challenges and Opportunities 21

Getting a Firm Grasp on a Viral Phenomenon 21

What’s the Hurry? 22

Too Newfangled for You? 22

A Very Cool Scenario 23

Step Up and Meet the Millennial Generation 26

Just What You Needed: Another “Convergence” 27

Chapter 2 The New Mode of Production 29

Social Media, Teamwork, and Collaboration 29

Mapping Social Media to Results 33

Accelerating Product Development 35

Driving Knowledge into and across the Organization 37

Crowd Sourcing 38

We’re All Hackers Now 41

Chapter 3 The Social Enterprise 43

Forget Murphy’s Law 43

More Important Than Money? 44

The Social Workforce 46

Collaboration is the New Efficiency 47

Social HR 48

First Impressions Count 49

The Train is Leaving the Station 51

The New Social Dimension 52

Social CRM 53

Social Leadership 55

Making It Stick 57

Legal Niceties 62

High Speeds Need Seat Belts 63

Take the Time to Write It Down 65

Part II Building a Structure for Success 67

Chapter 4 Get Everybody Together in the Same Room 69

Invite the Practitioners, Not Just the Rulemakers 70

Figure Out What’s Important 71

What are Your Existing Goals? 72

What Makes Sense in Your Industry? 73

What Makes Sense in Your Company? 73

How Can You Figure Out What Will Work for You? 74

Chapter 5 Creating Social Media Guidelines 75

Be Clear and Concise 76

Guiding Principles for Social Media at SAS 76

Include Dos as Well as Don’ts 77

Include Examples 78

Communicate as Often as Possible, in Every Channel You Have 79

Spotlight Successes 80

Lead by Example 81

Chapter 6 Staffing and Structuring 83

Where Does It Live? 85

Hire or Designate? 86

How Do You Structure for Social Media? 87

How One Organization Pulls It Together 89

Outsourcing the Roles 90

Chapter 7 Listening, Measurement, Analytics, and ROI 93

A Simple Listening Framework 94

First, a Word from the Measurement Queen 95

“Listen, Yes. But Think Bigger.” 96

The Five Kinds of Listening 98

What is Social Media Analytics? 101

CareOne’s Measurement Model 104

Not a Simple Formula, but a Formula Nonetheless 106

Chapter 8 The Keys to Success in Social Media 113

It’s Difficult in Its Simplicity 113

Finding the Time to Do It 115

A Simple Model 116

Using All Your Channels 117

Nine Easy Ways to Write a Blog Post 118

Part III Putting Your Social Media Strategy to Work 121

Chapter 9 Marketing 123

From Strollers to Sharpies 125

From the Nursery to the Kitchen 128

Sharpie, Meet Lamborghini 129

Bert’s Advice 130

Chapter 10 Social Media for B2B 133

B2B and Phonebooth-to-B 135

Taking an Integrated Approach at Cisco 137

Chapter 11 Public Relations 141

The Old Model of PR 142

The New Model of PR 143

Social Media PR at Mayo Clinic 144

Social Media in a Crisis 146

Greenpeace versus Nestlé 147

The Power of Parody 148

Chapter 12 Sales 153

Turning Twitter Connections into Sales Leads 158

A Debt of Gratitude 159

Chapter 13 The Voice of the Customer 163

Customer Service 163

Comcast Cares 164

Nothing is Certain but Twitter and Taxes 165

Product Development 168

The Phone is Ringing 170

Chapter 14 Internal Communications 173

The “Virtual Water Cooler” 175

Social Media and Internal Communications at SAS 176

Appendix: Intuit Social Communications Policy 179

Additional Resources 187

Recommended Reading 191

About the Authors 193

Index 195

DAVID B. THOMAS is Executive Director at New Marketing Labs, a new media marketing agency. Before joining NML, he was social media manager at SAS, where he led the company's global social media strategy. A marketer and communicator with more than twenty years' experience, Dave blogs at dbthomas.com.

MIKE BARLOW is an award-winning journalist and author. He is Managing Partner at Cumulus Partners (cumuluspartners.com), a marketing communications strategy consulting firm specializing in original content development and content-based marketing.

In the time it takes you to read this paragraph, thousands will tweet, post, download, or upload on the Internet. Today's super-wired, always-on, live-life-in-public citizens of the world depend on social media, and they flock to businesses with social media presences that meet their needs and engage them in meaningful conversations.

Essential reading for business leaders eager to redefine the rules of the game, The Executive's Guide to Enterprise Social Media Strategy quickly brings your business up to speed on the most effective social media strategies. Based on dozens of in-depth interviews with top executives and thought leaders at major corporations including IBM, Salesforce.com, Accenture, Intuit, SocialText, Newell Rubbermaid, H&R Block, Mayo Clinic, and SAS, this book reveals:

• The impact of newer social collaborative technologies on society, culture, and business
• Nuts-and-bolts guidance for successful corporate social media strategies
• Crucial topics such as the value proposition of social media, metrics, costs, ROI, staffing, and more
• How to develop your own internal corporate social media strategy
• Why your social media program will only work if it's aligned with your organization's goals and objectives

It's real. Social media is revolutionizing the way we do business—and the revolution has only started. Entertaining, useful, and intentionally provocative, this book is your executive bible for social media strategy planning for internal use within your company. Whether you're trying to convince executives of social media's worth or if you want to determine which social media tactics you can be using now to grow your business, The Executive's Guide to Enterprise Social Media Strategy shows you how to get up and running with social media and stay ahead of your competition.